Contract Teachers Seek Civil-Servant Status

[Scott]

Contract teachers seek chance for civil-servant status

December 17, 2012 5:23 pm

Representatives of an association of teachers working on contractual basis urged the Education Minister Monday to let them sit for civil-servant examination.

Some 50 members of the association represented thousands of fellow teachers to lodge a complaint with the minister, which was accepted by Anan Rangubtook, deputy general of the Office of Basic Education Commission.

The association is comprised of 5,290 teachers hired to teach special subjects and 3,972 teachers hired to boost students' knowledge in mathematics and science. They had been employed under the second stimulus package (SP2) launched by the Abhisit Vejjajiva government.

Amornrat Thongsadee, president of the association, said the teachers were not allowed to apply for civil-servant status because they had not been hired according to the regulations of the Office of the Teacher Civil Service and Educational Personnel Commission. He added that they were also not allowed to apply for civilservant status because their salaries were not being paid out of the ministry's budget even though they held the same licences and permits as teachers employed under other schemes.

The Nation

-- The Nation 2012-12-17

[sirchai]

"They had been employed under the second stimulus package (SP2) launched by the Abhisit Vejjajiva government."

Using Microsoft XP, service pack 2....----

[Scott]

Pardon a silly question, but I am assuming these are Thai teachers they are talking about. Is that correct?

[Riley'sLife]

They are referring to teachers of Thai Nationality under contract of employment directly with the Government schools, and where the salaries are paid by the school - as opposed to other teachers of Thai Nationality employed under the regulations of the Office of the Teacher Civil Service and Educational Personnel Commission where the salaries are paid from the budget of the Ministry of Education.

A similar situation exists within the Thai Health sector, where some staff are considered to be civil servants while others doing similar, and sometimes identical tasks are employed under contract directly with the hospital.

A monstrous injustice which, IMHO, only serves to further increase the social divide. Civil servants here seem to see their role as being that of hiso, educated elite rather than true servants of the Thai people as a whole.

Edited December 17, 2012 by Riley'sLife

[Scott]

Thanks for the clarification. I had an ever so fleeting moment when I saw the article that it was referring to foreign teachers--but it was quite fleeting!

I was thinking that Foreign teachers were actually going to get organized--silly me!

[mike123ca]

I wish we could get organized.

If the nurses can get pay raises by getting organized.

It seems by playing nice gets you nothing.

Do Thai teacher's have union membership?

If so, are foreigner's allowed to join a Thai teacher's union?